


we'll tell our stories on these walls

by arammojtabai



Category: The Librarian (Movies), The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, F/M, Family, Fluff, Foster Care, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of Cancer, Parent-Child Relationship, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arammojtabai/pseuds/arammojtabai
Summary: Eve Baird and Flynn Carsen have been married for two years now, and they decide to take the next step. When they meet four-year-old Cassandra Cillian, a bookworm at the local children’s home, they find the family they’ve been looking for.





	1. a little broken, a little new

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been a long time coming, and very long of a process, but I must say I'm pleased with how it turned out.  
> The fanmix version: http://8tracks.com/samarnavabi/we-ll-tell-our-stories-on-these-walls

 

Saturday, January 17, 2014

 

“You must understand, Miss Carsen,” said the social worker, “Cassandra’s medical complications have deterred other prospective caretakers in the past.” His British accent rolled off his tongue and his excessive use of three syllable words gave him an air of sophistication, which seemed odd considering that he worked with foster children all day.

Eve took a sip of coffee. “Colonel Baird,” she promptly corrected, placing the paper cup back down on the table and leaning forward on one elbow, “and Flynn and I have reviewed her file and have carefully taken Cassie’s medical needs into consideration before we made our decision, Mr. Moriarty.” She leaned back in her chair and turned as she heard the door open as her husband reentered, with a bag of fruit snacks in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. Eve turned back to the social worker. “We aren’t going to change our minds.”

“Of course not,” he said. “And please, call me James.”

Flynn took his seat beside Eve silently and slid the chips toward her on the table. “Sure, James,” Flynn said in agreement. “We’ve had more than enough time to think it over, we’re just here to make it official and pick up Cassie.” He picked a strawberry shaped fruit snack out of his little green and blue bag and put it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Your vending machines here are great. You have fruit snacks _and_ juice boxes. Nobody ever has that.”

“Well, we do provide for a great number of children,” said Moriarty with a forced smile. He turned his attention to the manila file folder in front of him, searching through forms and official documents that had elected the Baird-Carsen’s eligible to foster the little girl that they were so adamant about adding to their family. He finally selected a sheet of paper, examined it carefully, and placed it in front of Eve. Moriarty reached into his coat pocket for a pen and placed it on top of the form.

“I’ll just need signatures from you both,” said the Englishman. “For official purposes and all that.” He took the pen and marked an X beside two blank lines near the bottom of the page. “Sign and date here and Cassandra is all yours.”

 _Sign it and we’re parents_ , Eve thought, snatching the pen from Moriarty’s hand and carefully tracing her signature on the line marked “Guardian’s signature”.

\- - -

Spying Cassandra Cillian in a room filled with rowdy, screaming children—all bouncing off walls and throwing toys at each other—was not a difficult task. She was sitting quietly at the far end of what Moriarty called the Play Room – but was really the room in which all the children under school age were released to disperse their energy. Cassandra was reading a 3rd level My First Reader book, with a large teddy bear seated at the table beside her.

Eve spotted the vibrant red hair through the window in the door before she even stepped inside. When the door opened, the enormous group of children all decreased in volume as they looked to see just who had come in to visit them.

“Cassie,” called Eve to the girl, who was still too enraptured by her book to have noticed the new company.

Upon hearing her name, Cassandra looked up and beamed. “Colonel Eve!” she cried with joy, carefully placing her opened book in front of the bear so that he could read while she said hello. Cassie ran to the blonde woman and threw her arms around her legs in a giant hug. “Colonel Eve, I love the book you gave me. There’s a talking rabbit in the story, which is silly ‘cause rabbits don’t talk.” Cassie released Eve from her embrace. “But I love it anyway.”

“I’m glad you love it,” said Eve, stooping down onto one knee to look four-year-old Cassandra in the eye. “Do you wanna go out to the hallway with me? I have to ask you something important.”

“Okay,” Cassie said excitedly. Grown-ups didn’t usually ask her questions, so this was very curious. But she knew Colonel Eve wasn’t like regular grown-ups.

 

Friday, January 11, 2014

 

Just a few days earlier, Cassie had been playing in the Play Room by herself, surrounded by all the other kids, and had seen a very tall, pretty blonde lady come into the room. The lady had said hello to a few of the other children, but had stopped when she saw Cassandra sitting on the rug, thoughtfully constructing a block tower that was going to be both a museum and a taco truck.

The blonde lady had told Cassie that her name was Colonel Baird, but her friends called her Eve. Cassie really liked that name, Eve. It sounded like a princess name. Colonel Eve had sat with Cassie for a long time and talked to her, and had asked Cassie questions like what she liked to do, and what her favorite color was.

Eve had then pulled out a paperback with an illustration of an anthropomorphic rabbit on the cover. “My house has a lot of books in it,” Eve had said, “and I was going through my old boxes when I found this. It was mine when I was a little older than you, but I’m not going to read it so I thought that you should have it.”

Cassie beamed at her, taking the book in her small hands like it was a priceless painting that she didn’t want to mess up. “I can keep it?” she asked, looking up with wide blue eyes.

“Absolutely,” answered Eve. “Do you want me to read you some of it?” Cassie nodded vigorously. The two sat on the rug, Cassie tucked under Eve’s arm, looking at the pictures as Eve began the story. Cassie liked reading with Colonel Eve, and had been sad when she said she had to go.

 

Saturday, January 17, 2014

 

Colonel Eve had come back! Cassandra followed Eve through the door and scanned the room. She saw Mr. Moriarty and a slightly shorter man talking.

“That’s ridiculous, your skeptical view of ethics doesn’t account for the widely proven standards that James Rachels gave,” said the shorter man, talking too fast for anybody to really understand. There was a light brown flower on his jacket and he had a colorful red and yellow scarf tucked into his collar. Cassie noted that he looked a bit silly. Like a cartoon character. 

“Those standards have not been proven, hence the reason they are regarded as _theory_ , not–” Moriarty’s argument was cut off by Eve clearing her throat.

Both of the men’s attentions turned to the little girl who stood, half-hidden behind Eve.

“Hi,” said the shorter man, stepping forward and reaching his hand out to Cassie. “There you are, Cassandra. It’s nice to meet you.”

Eve turned to face Cassie. “Cassandra, this is Flynn,” she said, touching the man’s shoulder. “He’s my husband. I told him about you and he said he wanted to meet you.”

Cassie smiled a toothy grin. “Hi, Flynn! That’s a cool flower. Do you like ponies?”

Flynn put his hand on his chest and gasped in fake offense. “I adore ponies.” 

Cassie jumped up in excitement. “I have a book about them. Well, it’s not really mine, because we all have to share, but most of the other kids don’t read so I can read it whenever I want.”

 “Wow,” he said, “that’s really cool. But can I tell you a secret?”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. A secret? She had just met Flynn and he was already going to tell her a secret. This was big. “Okay, what secret?”

Flynn smiled, kneeled in front of Cassie and gestured for her to come closer. She did.

“My secret is,” he whispered loudly, cupping his hand over the side of his face as if that actually prevented him from being heard. “I actually have lots of books on ponies of my own, because I own a bookstore.”

Cassie gasped. “You have a whole _store_? Full of _books_?”

“That we do,” said Eve with a smile. “I bet you’d love it there. We were hoping that we could take you to see it today, actually.”

Whoa, now. Cassie couldn’t believe her ears. Colonel Eve had a husband, and they owned a book store, and they were inviting her to visit? This was the best day ever.

Eve knelt down beside Flynn and the two gave each other a brief, strange look, like they were trying to think of what to say. Eve spoke again first. “Cassandra, I want you to know that me and Flynn are married.”

Cassie nodded. “Yeah.”

“And we don’t have any children,” she continued slowly, looking at Flynn for confirmation.

“Yet,” Flynn added.

“Yet,” Eve repeated, “Right. And so we came here because we know there are lots of kids here who need a nice home and a nice family.”

“Like you,” Flynn interjected.

Cassie’s mouth went from a smile to a small pout. She didn’t like thinking about that. She remembered her mommy and daddy, mostly as vague shapes looking down on her with tears in their eyes. She always remembered them being sad. And that made her even sadder. She had a family somewhere, and a nice home there. She just had to find it.

“But we were thinking,” Eve continued, “that maybe you might like to go home with us.”

“Like a sleepover?” asked Cassandra, smile growing back immediately, “I want to!”

“Not quite,” said Eve. “We meant that maybe you would like to come live with us.”

“Really?” asked Cassie quietly.

Living with Colonel Eve and Mr. Flynn in a big bookstore sounded really fun. Then Colonel Eve could read to her every night! And with a bookstore, there would be so many stories…

“For how long?” asked Cassie. “The Gibson family let me live with them for a while. It was really fun, but they had to send me back.” Her face fell and she pointed to her temple. “There’s a grape in my head.”

“A grape?” asked Eve.

“Well, it’s not a real grape,” explained Cassie. “It’s a big blob of stuff that looks like a grape. That’s what the doctor said.”

“Yeah, we know about that,” said Flynn. “Moriarty told us. But we were hoping that you might want to stay with us, well, forever. Or until you’re an adult, I guess.”

“Yep,” confirmed Eve. “We don’t have any kids, but we think that you would be a pretty great one. Especially since you love books so much, and Flynn here loves books more than anything.”

“Almost anything,” he corrected, playfully shoving Eve with his shoulder.

“Almost anything,” echoed Eve. “So what do you say, Cassie?”

“Okay,” she said. “But if you change your mind, you can always send me back here. At least we can have a fun sleepover. With books!”

“I promise you we won’t change our minds,” Eve assured, a giant smile growing on her face.

 _She looks like a princess when she smiles_ , thought Cassie. _Or maybe a queen. That’s it, Eve was more like a queen than a princess._

“Glad to hear it,” said Flynn, standing up. “Let’s grab your stuff and head out. We’ve got lots of adventures to go on.”

\- - -

 “Is this everything?” asked Eve, looking at Cassie’s backpack and the book she had been given hugged to her chest.

“Yeah. I’m littler than the big kids so they get the newer clothes then I get the old ones,” said Cassie. “But I mostly like to wear my dress anyway.” She twirled around so her red and pink skirt flowed around.

“Well, I think we should stop by the store and find you some new clothes. I bet another dress would do you well,” said Eve. “Oh, there’s Flynn. Let’s go.”

A very old-looking minivan pulled up in front of the doors to the Children’s Center, and a very smiley Flynn jumped out. “Alright, she’s all signed out?” he asked Eve, handing her the keys.

“Yep, we are locked and loaded,” Eve said, holding onto Cassie’s hand in the hand not gripping the car keys. She turned to the little girl. “Are you ready?”

Cassie nodded. “Can we get lunch? The other kids are about to have lunch and I’m gonna miss it.”

“Yes!” Flynn cried, raising his arms in victory. “Eve, can we go out for lunch, _please?_ ”

Eve rolled her eyes as Flynn opened the rear car door. “Yes, we can go out for lunch.”

“Yay!” said Cassie and Flynn simultaneously.

“Let’s strap you in, Cassie,” Eve said, lifting the girl up and into the car seat that they had purchased for her only the day before. Cassie expertly put the straps over her shoulders and buckled them across her chest. “I’ve got it,” she protested when Eve attempted to buckle the one across her lap. “I can do it.”

“Of course,” said Eve. She’d heard those words hundreds of times from the mouth of Flynn, every time he tried to do something that could probably be considered in the realm of dangerous. She’d heard them on more than one occasion before the sound of a ladder and cardboard box hitting the floor, a thud and a groan of pain as Flynn peeled himself off the ground and shouted that he was fine.

It took a few moments, and Cassie stuck her tongue out of her mouth in concentration as she fumbled with the buckle, but eventually there was a clicking noise as it snapped securely into place. “Got it!”

“Good job,” Eve said, raising her hand for a high-five. “Now it’s time for lunch. How does pizza sound?”

\- - -

 “We should have ice cream for lunch,” said Flynn, “it’s a special occasion.”

“She cannot have ice cream for lunch, Flynn,” said Eve from the driver’s seat.

“ _Please_?” said the other two, both folding their hands together like they were praying.

“Oh no,” Eve snapped. “No, no, no, no, _no_. None of that. Puppy dog eyes don’t work on me. We’re getting real food. We’ll see about ice cream afterward.”

There was a still a possibility for an ice cream dessert, so Cassie declared this fight a victory.

“The puppy dog eyes usually work,” huffed Flynn.

Eve let out a short laugh. “Name one time they worked on me.”

Flynn gave her a sly grin and pointed to the wedding band on his finger.

“Fine, I’ll give you that one.”

Cassie furrowed her brow. Grown-ups didn’t make any sense. “When did you get married?” she inquired, swinging her legs as they dangled over the end of her car seat.

“Almost two years ago,” answered Flynn, turning around to face Cassie with a smile. “But we’ve been together for almost four years.”

“Really? That’s a long time,” remarked Cassie, “That’s like my whole life.” Silence fell over the car for a moment before she decided to ask another question.

“How come you don’t have kids?”

Eve nearly swerved the car into a ditch.

“Well, uh,” Flynn began to explain, “we do have kids. Or, uh, _a_ kid. Singular. Not plural. We have you.”

“But how come you don’t have your own baby?” Cassie clarified. “Like most of the mommies and daddies. They have a baby that looks like them that got trapped in the mommy’s belly. A em-bree-yo. One of the older kids taught me that word,” she said proudly. “Before a baby is a baby it’s like a little caterpillar, and inside the mommy’s tummy it goes in a little chrysalis then when it’s born it comes out, but it’s not a butterfly, it’s just like a baby.”

Flynn’s face was chalky white; he hadn’t expected to be hearing about how babies were made before she turned twelve, much less on his first official day as a dad.

“That’s not quite how it works,” said Eve carefully, “but that’s a conversation for when you’re a little bit older.”

“But what’s the answer?” said Cassie, growing more and more curious. “How come you don’t have a baby?”

“Well, we wanted one,” confessed Eve, looking at Cassie’s wide blue eyes in her rear view mirror, then shifting her attention back to the road. “But we thought that there are so many kids at the Children’s Center who need a nice family that instead of having a baby that way that you said,” Eve waved her hand around submissively, “sort of – we thought we would want to find a baby of our own.” She reached blindly behind her to tickle the bottom of one of Cassie’s feet, as she’d kicked her shoes off and onto the car floor. “So I went there and talked to Mr. Moriarty about how we wanted to find a baby to take care of, and he told me that he knew of one very special little girl with red hair, who loved reading, who Mr. Moriarty said would be the perfect baby for us.”

“Was it me?” asked Cassie innocently. “That sounds like me. I have red hair and I love reading a whole lot.”

“Of course it was you, Red.” Eve turned briefly in her seat to give Cassie a smile. “That’s why I scheduled a day last week to go in and meet you and talk to you, and it turns out Mr. Moriarty was right.”

“That was nice of Mr. Moriarty,” Cassie remarked. “I should tell him ‘thank you’ next time I see him, because I like you both a lot.” The two parents both lit up on the inside, but tried to remain composed. “I think I’m gonna like being your baby, even though I’m not really a baby,” she held up her hand with her thumb tucked into her palm. “I’m four.”

“Here we are,” said Eve, pulling the van into the parking lot of Valentino’s Pizza. “Portland’s finest.”

“We can’t have ice cream for lunch, but we can have pizza?” asked Flynn, raising an eyebrow.

Eve shot him a look.

“I love pizza,” said Flynn, quickly unbuckling his seat belt as Eve parked. “How ‘bout you, Cass?”

Cassie was struggling to try to undo her own safety straps to get herself out of her seat. “I like pizza. But I _love_ spaghetti,” she paused and wrinkled her nose. “And I don’t like ravioli.”

“Why not ravioli?” asked Eve, climbing out of the car. She opened the rear door to help Cassie remove her restraints, which were a lot either to put on than they were to take off. “It’s just like spaghetti with a different shape.”

“Ravioli is creepy,” explained the four-year-old with a deathly serious expression. “They look like pillows but you can eat them. And they’re filled with stuff and you never know what’s gonna be inside.”

Eve nodded as if that explained everything. She released the lap belt holding Cassie in and the girl excitedly hopped out, grabbing Eve’s hand. Flynn walked around the vehicle to them with a wide smile plastered on his face as he offered his hand to Cassie, which she happily took in the hand that wasn’t holding Eve’s.

They sat and waited for their food – a small pizza for the adults to share and a plate of spaghetti and marinara for Cassie which she had physically jumped in excitement about ordering – in a small booth by the window. Cassie had been provided with a kid’s menu, complete with cheap crayons and black and white cartoon animals for her to fill in, but instead the young girl focused her attention out the window at everything happening outside. An elderly couple strolled along the sidewalk just outside and noticed the odd little redhead in the window staring at them with an expression of wonder. Cassie waved at them with a smile.

They both waved back at her.

“I messaged Charlene,” said Flynn to Eve. “I told her we’d be stopping by with Cassie in two or three hours.” He picked up his drink, some sugary fruit punch flavored concoction that Eve said was intended for children under eight, not children over twenty-eight. “She’s already over the moon about it.” He took a sip through his straw. “She told me something about how we need to choose godparents and then provided a laundry list of reasons why she’s qualified.”

Flynn looked over at Cassie, sitting across from him beside Eve. “Charlene is a lady who works at the bookstore with me,” he explained to her, “and she’s a good friend. She’s super excited to meet you. All week she’s been asking when we were going to finally let her meet this Cassandra girl who likes books and ponies that Eve kept talking about.”

“Does Charlene like books?” asked Cassie. “Does she like ponies?”

“I think Charlene might love books and ponies more than you do,” said Flynn. “She’s been working with books since before I was even born.”

“Since before _you_ were born?” Cassie gaped. “Wow, that’s a long time.”

Eve held back a laugh and Flynn scoffed. “It’s not that long, I’m still young. I’m hip.”

“I don’t think the kids say ‘hip’ anymore, Flynn,” chided Eve.

“Yes, they do,” corrected Flynn, “I’m still one of the kids. I would know.”

Suddenly, a server came to their table carrying plates, trays and cups on their arms and shoulders, carefully placed their food onto the table, then continued to go around the restaurant serving customers.  Flynn’s defense halted temporarily as Eve placed a napkin on Cassie’s lap as the girl dug into her food. Instantly, spaghetti sauce covered her face and sleeves, and an entire noodle somehow found its way into her hair.

Eve laughed softly as she wiped tomato off her daughter’s face. She liked that – saying that she had a daughter – and thought to herself that she could get used to this whole “Mom” thing.

Their check came some fifteen minutes later, and Flynn paid as Eve took Cassie to the bathroom to clean up.

And as they all climbed back into the car, Cassie with tomato stains permanently engrained in her white sleeves and a bright, toothy smile on her face, the new little family set off on their first adventure: shopping.

Cassie had never been inside a clothing store before. She’d walked past a few, had gotten glimpses through the high windows of brightly colored prints and more shirts and dresses than she could ever dream of. But now, she was finally getting a chance to go inside and see it for herself.

In the past, her clothes had all been purchased secondhand or given as hand-me-downs – the Center couldn’t afford new clothes for every child, and had limited donations to go around. After such a long time, seeing endless pairs of pants with ripped knees from reckless owners not wearing knee pads on their bikes and countless t-shirts with holes in the armpits, Cassie couldn’t believe her eyes. Everything was clean, sorted neatly into folded stacks or rows of hangers, organized chronologically by size.

So, Cassie picked up every item she saw, unfolded it and showed it to Eve.

“This one has a kitten on it!”

“My friend has a shirt like this!”

“This one is _pink_ , but there’s another one just like it that’s _blue_!”

It took a few minutes for her sensory overload to finally diminish, and then one of the employees came over to Eve with a shopping basket for her to use.

“We need to get you some new clothes,” said Eve to Cassie, “So we’re going to have to go to the changing room and try things on to see what fits.”

The little girl lit up and began choosing from the rack of dresses for something to try on. Eve and Flynn both searched themselves, grabbing a variety of sizes of shirts and pants to test out. By the time they all finished, they’d half destroyed the store and the teenage cashier was silently grumbling as she went behind them, re-folding everything.

“I’ll wait here,” said Flynn, sitting down on one of the oversized orange and green chairs outside the changing room door. Eve and Cassie headed into the changing room, Eve’s arms filled with little girls’ clothes.

Eve had to help Cassie get her arms through nearly every shirt, and the entire ordeal took ten minutes longer than it probably should have, since Cassie was adamant that she try on every single item, even when they’d already determined that she wore a 4T in everything.

When they finally emerged from the changing room, Flynn had started drifting off to sleep in his chair. In a sleepy daze, he registered their presence and snapped awake.

“How’d we do?” he asked.

“Pretty good,” answered Eve. “We’ve got a few shirts, some pants, shorts,” she looked through the collection of clothes she had left in her shopping basket. “Two dresses, because someone just couldn’t decide between blue and purple.”

“I just like _all_ the colors!” exclaimed Cassie.

Both Eve and Flynn flinched when the cashier rung them up and gave them the total, but Flynn handed over the cash, anyway. Since Cassie’s sleeves were still stained from her messy eating at lunch, Eve took her back into the changing room to put on one of her new dresses. “Are we gonna go to the bookstore next?” asked Cassie, trying to find the hole for her arm to go in the sleeve. “And meet Miss Charlene?”

“Yep!” answered Eve. “Flynn’s pulling the car around for us. He’s not good at driving, especially in busy mall parking lots, so we had better hurry.”

\- - -

Cassandra stared in wonder at the gray stone building. “Cal’s Books,” she read off the sign hanging over the door. “Who’s Cal?”

“Excalibur,” Flynn explained, as if he’d been waiting years for someone to ask that question. “The fictional sword in the stone from the Legend of King Arthur! It was my favorite story as a kid, well, still is, really –” he began rambling, “I always loved the story of the underdog who became the great leader and, when you really think about it, Excalibur was the symbol of Arthur’s power and wisdom, since he was granted the role of king as a –”

“Flynn,” interrupted Eve, “we got it.”

“Oh,” Flynn cleared his throat, “my bad. Got a little carried away there.” He leaned down to whisper in Cassie’s ear, “I’ll tell you more about it later.”

Eve opened the door and motioned for Cassie to go in, and without skipping a beat, the little girl bolted inside.

A bell rung as the door closed behind them, a familiar sound to the couple. There were shelves in rows, organized meticulously by subject and author, thanks to Charlene and Eve. To their left was a sales counter with a prehistoric cash register resting on top of it, along with piles more of books organized in no way whatsoever, courtesy of Flynn and Judson.  Behind the sales counter was a wall, covered with maps of the world and a few scholastic motivational reading posters. Amongst the cluttered wall décor was a door marked “office”, from which Eve and Flynn could hear the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, before the office door was thrown open and a very short, blond woman in her late sixties, eyes wide with excitement behind round, thick-rimmed glasses.

“Well, it’s about time!” she exclaimed, hurrying around the sales counter. She swatted Flynn on the chest with the back of her hand. “You shouldn’t keep people waiting at times like this,” The woman looked around, searching. “Where is she?”

“Cassie’s exploring,” answered Eve. “She’s been waiting to see the store since we told her about it.”

“Well, she’ll have plenty of time to explore later,” she huffed, “I want to meet my new niece. I’m honorary Auntie Charlene.”

“I was thinking you’d be more like Grandma Charlene,” remarked Flynn without thinking. Charlene swatted his chest again, harder this time.

“Let’s hope she has more manners than you do,” Charlene said.

“Is traffic down again today?” asked Flynn as he noticed that the store seemed empty.

Charlene nodded. “Afraid so. Only three or so in since we opened this morning.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll pick up soon. Summer is always slower, with kids out of school. Nobody likes reading anymore,” said Flynn sadly. “But nevermind that, let’s go find Cassie.”

She was in the first place they checked, the children’s section. There was a kids’ sized table in the corner, and there sat a little girl with bright red hair, face hidden behind a large print book titled _The World of Outer Space_. On the table in front of her sat at least five more books that she’d selected to read next.

“Cassie,” said Eve, getting the girl’s attention.

She looked up from the page to see the adults all looking at her. “Oh, hi.” She smiled bashfully. “I found a whole lot of books, but I couldn’t carry them all, so I just picked a few. I promise I’ll put them all back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Eve. “We can put them away. You read as much as you want.”

Charlene stepped forward to approach Cassie. She leaned down as much as her poor knees allowed her. “Hello, Cassandra, I’m Charlene.”

“Colonel Eve told me about you,” said Cassie, carefully putting _The World of Outer Space_ back on the top of her book pile. “You work here?”

“Oh, I don’t just work here,” said Charlene, “I taught Flynn all he knows about books and the business.”

“That’s not true,” mumbled Flynn.

Charlene ignored him. “I’ve been very excited to meet you, ever since Eve and Flynn told me they were going to foster you. It’s going to be so nice to have another girl around here to keep the boys in line. And I can tell from these books you have here that you’re the type of girl who likes learning a lot.”

Cassie nodded. “I love the real books the most, but I like the stories a whole lot, too.”

“Those are my favorites, too,” said Charlene, “A good, old-fashioned non-fiction to teach us about the world around us.”

Eve and Flynn stood at the far corner of the room and watched Cassie and Charlene engage in a very exciting conversation about the merits of fiction versus non, and Flynn playfully bumped her shoulder with his own. “I think she’s gonna fit in well here.”

 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

 

Cassie loved living with Flynn and Colonel Eve. She had her own room, with a cool big girl bed and a box with plenty of toys, and more books than she could ever dream of. Flynn worked at the bookstore most days, and Eve was a police officer. “But I’m on leave,” she had told Cassie, even though Cassie had no idea what that meant. “I’m gonna stay home with you for a few weeks, and when I go back to work I’ll be working nights and mornings. So you can spend some days home with me, other days at the store with Flynn. Until you start school, that is.”

Cassie beamed at the thought of school, even though it was so far away. Spending every day learning new things, meeting new friends, going on new adventures? It sounded like a dream come true.

Nighttime rolled around quickly, and Cassie had quickly grown accustomed to the nighttime routine she’d been set on since arriving at the Baird-Carsen house. 7:15 bath, 7:30 teeth brushed and hair combed, 7:45 story, 8:00 tucks into bed. Sometimes later, if she could convince Eve or Flynn to read _just one_ more story.

 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

It was 6:12 am when Cassie snuck quietly into their bedroom. She wordlessly padded across the carpet to Eve’s side of the bed and prodded her shoulder with a chubby finger. “Eve?”

Eve’s eyes snapped open. “Cassandra.” She looked at the clock on the nightstand. “Baby, it’s still early. It’s Saturday, I don’t have work. You can sleep in if you want.”

“I can’t,” she said. “I had a bad dream, and I woke up and my head hurted a lot.”

“Where does your head hurt?” asked Eve, throwing the blanket off of herself and sitting up.

Cassie pointed to the right side of her head, near her temple. “Right here.”

Eve leaned over to pick her up and sat her beside her on the bed. Eve glared over at Flynn’s form, asleep and completely oblivious. She turned back to Cassandra. “I’m sorry, honey. If it doesn’t go away soon, I can get you some medicine. Do you wanna try going back to sleep? You can sleep in here with me.”

Cassie nodded, so slightly that it was almost unseen.

Eve smiled and kissed the girl’s head, covered in tangled red hair. The two both laid down and Eve pulled the covers over the both of them. They were still warm, and Cassie snuggled in immediately under Eve’s arm. They were both asleep thirty minutes later, when Flynn’s alarm went off.

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

 

“I’m five!” yelled Cassandra, little feet pattering in her footie pajamas on the carpet in the hallway. She ran into the kitchen, where Eve stood, still in a sleepy haze as she nursed her cup of coffee.

“It’s my birthday!” exclaimed Cassie, her eyes bright and awake. “I’m five!” She held up her hand, showing proudly all five fingers.

“It is!” said Eve, putting her coffee down on the counter. “And you’re up even earlier than I thought you’d be.” She glanced at the clock on the stove, 6:31.

“I woke up and I was too excited, I couldn’t sleep any longer,” explained Cassie. “Can I get cake now?”

Eve laughed. “Not quite yet,” she answered, “cake is after dinner, and first me and Flynn were planning on taking you for a special birthday breakfast.” Eve leaned down and scooped the little girl up in her arms. “It’s not every day you turn five. You feel heavier already.”

“When I get big, I’m gonna be _so_ tall. Taller than you,” said Cassie matter-of-factly.

“We’ll see about that, Little Red,” said Eve, placing Cassie back down. “Now, I think we should wake up Flynn and then go out for some pancakes.”

“Yes!” she cried with excitement, immediately turning around and running to the master bedroom. Eve laughed and followed closely behind.

Cassie had to reach up to turn the door knob so that she could enter Eve and Flynn’s shared room. The door slowly creaked open, and Cassie bolted straight for the bed. She jumped and landed directly on Flynn’s chest.

He gasped and tried to yelp at the same time, making only a strangled noise.

“Get up, get up!” chanted Cassie, pulling the comforter away from Flynn and exposing his pajama-clad body to the cool morning air. “It’s my birthday, we’re gonna have pancakes!”

“Yeah, get up, lazy-bones,” said Eve with a smirk. “Don’t you know it’s rude to keep a five-year-old waiting?”

“Of course,” grunted Flynn as he swung his legs over the side of the bed to sit up. “Hap–” he cut himself off with a drawn out yawn, “Happy birthday, Sunshine.” He pressed a kiss to the side of Cassie’s head, and she hugged him in return.

“Thanks,” she said. “Can we go get pancakes, now? I want to get some shaped like a sun with a smiley face.”

“Of course,” he said, still dazed from sleep, “but hair and teeth brushed first. You can go pick out your clothes, too, while I get dressed.”

Cassie nodded vigorously and ran out of the room to fetch herself something to wear.

“She’s got extra energy this morning,” said Eve, moving to stand in front of Flynn. He took both of her hands in his own. “I assumed you wouldn’t mind being woken up a little early for a special occasion. And pancakes.”

“Of course not,” Flynn released one of her hands to reach for the nightstand and turn off the alarm, since he had been woken up an hour ahead of when it was supposed to go off. “It’s her first birthday with us. We have to make it an especially good one.”

Eve sighed, taking a seat on the bed beside him. “I don’t know if I’m worried that we’re spoiling her, or not doing enough.”

Flynn looked at her, perplexed. “Why would you worry about that?”

“I don’t know,” she said, waking her hands around dismissively, “I want her to have happy memories of a happy childhood if anything happens in the future. But if nothing does, I don’t want to spoil her _too_ much.”

“Oh,” he said as he absorbed her words. “This is about the tumor.”

Eve nodded. “The uncertain future terrifies me, and I know it does you, too. She’s already gone through so much, and she’s so young…I just want her to have everything. To be a happy kid.”

“She is happy,” he said softly, examining her face. “She loves it here, she loves you. You’re a great mom.” He gave her a goofy smile, “And a decent wife,” he added sarcastically.

Eve laughed and bumped his shoulder, like he took such pleasure in doing to her constantly. “You’re alright, too, librarian.”

“ _Former_ librarian,” he corrected. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe there’s a recently-turned-five-year-old probably waiting for us to take her for smiley-face sun pancakes.”

 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

 

Cassandra had gone to the bookstore with Flynn that day. Eve had to work and wasn’t going to be home until mid- afternoon, so Cassie had packed herself a lunch – by that, she meant she put several pre-packaged foods and a plastic spoon into her special red, yellow and blue lunch pail – and climbed into the car with Flynn for a hard day’s work of book sorting and phone calls.

Eve was supposed to pick her up from the store on her way home, at twelve minutes after three o’clock. Cassie had timed it, because she liked to know exactly what time to be ready to go home. Punctuality was very important to her, and so was making sure that things followed routine.

It was only one fifty-one. At least, according to the digital clock hanging over the sales counter. All the other clocks in the store were analog, and Cassie still couldn’t quite figure out how to tell time on those. She frequently mixed up the big hand and the little hand.

But today, Cassie was determined to figure it out.

She looked at the digital clock and noted the time, then examined the analog that hung on the opposite wall. _Why are there so many clocks all over the store?_ She wondered briefly.

She had already read three new books today, and Flynn was busy talking to someone on the phone about something boring and grown-up, so Cassie had to find a way to entertain herself for just another hour and a half or so.

Therefore, she had decided that today was the day that she finally mastered the analog clock that Flynn had been trying to train her to read.

She compared the digital and analog clocks for a few minutes, standing in the center of the open area by the door so she could look back and forth at the opposite walls.

Flynn’s voice could suddenly be heard coming from the office. “Sorry about that, Cass,” he called to her, as he swung open the office door. “But finally, my call is over and we can sort some biographies together. How does that s –”

He cut off mid-sentence when he saw the little girl’s face and the small drop of blood falling from her nose. Flynn’s reaction was immediate. He ran to Cassie and examined her. No bumps on her skull, no bruises or cuts. “Your nose is bleeding, sweetheart.”

He put his hands under her arms and lifted her up to sit her on the register counter. Flynn calmly pulled the handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the blood from her face. “Does your head hurt? Do you feel okay?”

Cassie nodded, confused. How did her nose start bleeding?

“Are you sure?” He held up his index finger and moved it every which way. “Follow my finger.”

She did, and Flynn signed with relief. He let her hold the handkerchief to her own nose, as it looked like the bleeding was slowing. “Just keep that on your nose for a minute, I’m gonna call Eve.”

He reached into a coat pocket and pulled out his cell, hitting speed dial number 1.

Eve answered with her police officer voice on. “Colonel Baird, Portland Police.”

“Hey Eve, it’s me.”

Her voice dropped the serious police officer tone and immediately picked up the serious worried mother one. “Flynn. What’s going on, is Cassie okay? Please tell me you didn’t knock over that shelf again, I’ve told you a million times it needs to be anchored to the wall.”

“I didn’t knock anything over, and Cassie’s fine. Mostly, I think. She’s got a nosebleed,” he explained.

“How bad?” she asked. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, it just started bleeding. She seems perfectly normal; she didn’t even realize it was happening.”

“It might be nothing,” she said hopefully.

“I know,” Flynn sighed. “I had nosebleeds a lot as a kid, but considering…I just want to be safe. I’m gonna call and make her an appointment, I just thought I should tell you first.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ll be there in an hour, I’m just about to finish this report then head out. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

 

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

 

“Can I play a game on your phone?” asked Cassie, swinging her legs as they dangled over the end of the examination table where she sat. The paper she sat on made an annoying crinkling sound as she shifted.

“Sure, honey,” said Eve, pulling out her iPhone and entering her passcode – 022009, the month and year Cassandra was born – then handing the device over to the little girl. “Just until the doctor comes.”

“What if he never comes,” said Flynn dramatically as he spun around in the swivel-ly blue stool by the sink and the computer screen. “This is taking _ages_. Can I play on your phone after Cassie does?”

“There’s a reason you still own a flip phone, Flynn,” Eve said. Cassie quickly became engrossed in slingshotting a red cartoon bird at a flimsy wooden structure.

Eve continued. “Besides, it was a miracle we even managed to get an appointment so quickly. There was a last minute cancellation, we could have been stuck waiting for two months just to get her in to see the specialist.”

The sound of the door clicking as it was opened caught the whole family’s attention. Cassie hit the pause button on her game and sat it down on the crinkled up paper.

A short African American man entered the room, holding a clipboard in one hand. Cassandra could tell that he was a doctor because of the white coat he had on, and the stethoscope around his neck. She liked that word, _stethoscope_. It sounded very grown-up.

“Hello,” the man said with a bright smile. He held his hand out for Eve to shake, then did the same to Flynn. “Mr. and Mrs. Cillian, I presume?”

“Baird.”

“Carsen.”

They corrected him at the same time.

“I see,” he said with a brief look of confusion. The man turned to Cassie and his smile returned. “Hello, you must be Cassandra,” he held out his hand, “I’m Doctor Devlin.”

Cassandra hesitantly shook two of his fingers, because her hands were too small to shake the whole thing. “Flynn said you might never show up.”

“Flynn?” he said with a laugh.

Cassandra pointed. “That’s Flynn. He’s my dad. He says weird stuff sometimes.”

“I don’t say _weird_ stuff…” defended Flynn, crossing his arms.

“Well, I’ve looked over a few of Cassandra’s records,” Dr. Devlin explained, “and I’m certain you’re more than aware of the details of her condition.”

“Mostly,” Eve said, crossing her arms.

“Well, luckily, nosebleeds aren’t usually a symptom of oligodendroglioma. Lots of children have nosebleeds semi-regularly and they usually stop around puberty, but it was probably a good idea for you to bring her in anyway.” The doctor turned his attention to Cassie. “Hi, Cassandra,” he said in a friendly voice. “I have a couple of questions that I want to ask you, so I can make sure you don’t start feeling sick. Is that okay?”

Cassie nodded. “Sure, that’s okay.”

“For legal reasons, I’m going to have to ask that your parents leave the room while I ask them,” said the doctor. “But, if you want, your Mommy can stay. If you don’t want her to, I can ask a nurse to come in instead.”

“I want Eve, please,” said Cassie.

“I saw someone earlier with the lunch cart,” Flynn said. “I’ll let you guys handle this, I’m gonna see if they have orange Jell-O.” His foot caught on the doorjamb as he exited.

“Alrighty, let’s just go through this list real quick,” said Dr. Devlin. “Cassandra, has your head been hurting a lot recently?”

“Sometimes,” she said. “Sometimes when I have bad dreams, I wake up and my head hurts.”

“Do you know how many times you’ve woken up with a headache?” he asked. He turned to Eve. “Does she complain about this often?”

“I can only remember her mentioning having a headache once,” said Eve. “Cassie, you have to tell me stuff like that, it’s important that you don’t hide things from me.””

“I’m sorry.” Cassie said in a quiet voice. “I don’t have them all the time. Just sometimes.”

“Can you guess how many times? Or tell me how many on your fingers, if you don’t know how to say the number.”

“I know numbers, I’m really good at numbers,” said Cassie. “Flynn helped me count to one hundred and fifty. I help him count the pennies in the register.” She thought for a moment. “I think I had bad dreams six times.” She held up six fingers for him. “That’s this many.”

“Six times?” Eve said incredulously. “Cassie, why didn’t you tell me? Or Flynn?”

Cassie shrugged and looked at her shoes. They were the Mary Janes she’d gotten to go with her Easter dress. She thought about Easter, when Charlene had organized a community egg hunt in the field behind the bookstore for the local kids. Cassie had found the most eggs of anybody, because she knew where Charlene liked to hide things. They’d played hide-and-seek enough to know all the good spots.

“Cassandra?” said Dr. Devlin, trying to focus her attention back. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it, but if you start feeling sick, or your head hurts, you should always tell a grown-up. If you don’t tell anyone, they can’t help.”

Cassie nodded.

“Alright, now, Eve, do you know if any history of heart disease or diabetes runs in Cassandra’s family…”

\- - -

A frenzied, rhythmic knock on the door echoed through the examination room. Eve, Dr. Devlin and Cassie all looked to see Flynn’s head emerge from behind the door. “Hi. Am I allowed in now? I found the Jell-O and I ate three of the little cups but then I got bored. Jell-O is only fun before you eat it.”

Dr. Devlin smiled. “Of course, Mr. Carsen, come right in. We’ve just finished.”

Flynn released an audible “Yay,” and shut the door behind him as he fully entered the room.

“We’ll need to run a full CT scan to know for sure,” said the doctor, “but judging by what Cassandra has told me, her nosebleed is probably just a symptom of dry air.” Flynn and Eve both looked visibly relieved. “I’d suggest running a vaporizer in Cassandra’s room every once in a while, just to clear her sinuses. Nothing at all to be worried about.”

Flynn wiped invisible sweat from his brow. “Phew. Glad it’s all good. Are we free to go now? I have a five thousand-piece puzzle at home that I just bought and I’m really excited to start it.”

“Actually, I’ve got some information that the two of you may be interested to know.” The doctor opened a manila folder that was sitting on the counter and handed a sheet of paper to Eve. “The hospital was recently approved funding for a new clinical trial for a new intravenous treatment for conditions quite similar to Cassandra’s. So far, our results have been nearly all positive. I can get you further information if you’d like, but I would highly suggest considering this option for Cassandra’s future.”

“And what exactly would this entail?” asked Eve. “We were told she’d already been receiving treatment before she came to live with us, but there hadn’t been any positive or negative changes.”

Cassie looked at her shoes again. She could tell the grown-ups were talking about something serious. She couldn’t quite understand all of what they were saying, but she knew the words “treatment” and “condition”. Cassie remembered getting treatments when she was smaller, and they were no fun. They made her tummy hurt and her hair grew all funny.

“We’ll have to think about it,” Eve said finally, earning a nod from Flynn. “We’ll call you when we make a decision.”

“Of course,” said Dr. Devlin. “Until then, it’s been a pleasure.” He shook Eve’s hand, then Flynn’s before looking to Cassie. “It was nice meeting you, Cassandra. I hope you feel better. And make sure you tell an adult if your head starts hurting again.”

“I will, I promise,” she said.

He winked, and left the room.

Eve sighed. “How about we grab some popsicles? I could use a popsicle right about now.”

Cassie and Flynn both exclaimed their agreement at the same time.

\- - -

Cassie sat on Flynn’s shoulders as she ate her popsicle. She had elected for the red one, since red was her favorite color.

The three of them strolled casually along the sidewalk, away from the ice cream stand and toward the patient parking garage around the east side of the building.

“Hey, Red?” said Eve, handing Flynn the uneaten half of her banana popsicle. “Why didn’t you want me and Flynn to know about your headaches?”

“What headaches?” asked Flynn.

“Cassie told the doctor she’s been waking up with headaches recently. She’d only told me about having a headache once, when she crawled into bed with us that one night. And that was weeks ago.”

“Cassandra, you didn’t tell me,” said Flynn, trying to look up at her without leaning his head back and knocking her off his shoulders.

“I thought you might be mad,” said Cassie, melted red popsicle dripping onto her hands. “Or sad.”

“Why would we be mad, honey?” asked Eve. They’d made it to the parking garage and they could see the van at the opposite end of the structure, so Eve started searching for her keys.

“’Cause the other people got mad and sad when I told them I didn’t feel good and then they made me go back to the Center.”

Eve and Flynn both stopped walking. Flynn carefully squatted down and lifted Cassie off of him so that he could see her face. She was a sticky mess and her tongue had turned the color of bright red dye #4, but she kept her eyes fixed on her toes.

“Cassandra, look at me,” Eve said firmly, kneeling down in front of Cassie.

Cassie slowly looked up. Eve’s face looked different. She kinda looked sad, but not like the other mommies had looked sad. But she didn’t look mad. Cassie wasn’t sure how Eve looked, but she knew she should listen to what she was going to say.

“Cassie, we will never send you back to the Center. And I don’t want you to ever, _ever_ think that me or Flynn will ever be upset with you for being sick,” said Eve. She had a different voice on, it was like the voice she’d used with Cassie on the day she invited her to be their baby.

“We love you, Cass. When you’re sick, we just want to know so we can help you feel better,” Flynn said in the same voice.

Cassie nodded. Her popsicle was dripping onto the cement floor of the parking garage. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” said Eve. She picked up the little girl in her arms and they continued walking toward the van. “Now let’s get you in the car and buckled in before we paint the town red with that popsicle juice.”         

 

Saturday, April 12, 2014

 

James Moriarty arrived at the Baird-Carsen residence early that morning holding a manila envelope.

Eve answered the door with a bit too much enthusiasm. Perhaps she should’ve held off on the morning cup of coffee another hour.

“Grand, I see you’re awake. And Mister Carsen, he is asleep, I presume? Or away on business? Why, it’s quite tragic that a woman such as you would be—”

“Cut the crap, James,” Eve interrupted. She stepped out of the way of the door. “Come in. Flynn’s getting Cassie dressed.”

As if on cue, Cassandra came running into the room. “Mommy, did you adopt me yet? You said you were gonna adopt me today. I didn’t even go to sleep much last night, I was too excited. Well, I did sleep a little bit, but I had a dream about a giant stuffed moose that could talk. His name was Jeffrey.”

Flynn walked in behind Cassie. “Mister Moriarty. Let’s all have a seat at the dining table, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other business to attend to after this at places that are not here.”

Eve elbowed him between the ribs. She gestured toward the dining area. “We can sit over there and sign.”

Cassie jumped up and followed them to the table. “What are you signing? Can I help?”

“Your parents are signing the adoption papers, Cassandra,” said Moriarty to the young girl. His thick accent hung in the air.

“So you just have to write your name? That’s it?” asked Cassandra, standing on her tippy toes to try to see the paper on the table.

“Yep,” confirmed Eve. “We just sign here and you are officially Cassandra Carsen.”

“Wow,” said Cassie breathlessly. “I can’t believe you can change your name with just a piece of paper.”

“Well, this is not just any piece of paper,” said Flynn, looking down at the top of her matted red head. “This is the beginning of an era. _This_ ,” he picked the small stack of papers up off of the table and held them in the air like an offering to God. “This is the _adoption agreement_. After this, no more social workers, no more worrying, we will be full-fledged parents of one Cassandra Cillian-Carsen.”

“My name is gonna have a whole lot of Cs.”

“Your name is going to have a whole lot of _adventure!_ ” cried Flynn with glee. He scooped up the little girl in his arms and plopped her onto his lap. “Now, let’s get this adventure started. Where’s my pen…” He felt around his chest and pants, searching his pockets.

Eve reached over and plucked the ballpoint pen from his handkerchief pocket. “If you’re finished, Drama Queen.”

Cassie snickered. She got close to Flynn’s ear and whispered in amusement, “She called you a queen. That’s silly, because you’re a boy.”

Moriarty silently watched the familial exchange as he sat with his spine straight as a rod in the cheap wooden chair at their small family dining table. It was all so…domestic. A bit too casual for his taste.

Eve sighed as her left hand smudged the ink of her signature. “Sorry,” she said to James, “Lefty.”

“That’s perfectly alright, Colonel.”

Flynn began tracing his name below hers, on the “Second Parent Signature” line. As per usual, it looked like it had been printed by a computer in a calligraphic font. Eve rolled her eyes.

They slid the papers across the table to Moriarty, who deftly scribbled his own initials down. “Alright,” he said, standing up. Cassandra’s toy duck, Charles, squeaked as he stepped on it. “Everything seems in order. I’ll submit these as soon as I return to the Center.”

The other two adults stood up as well. “It’s been a pleasure,” Moriarty said to Eve. He reached for her hand, pressing her knuckles to his lips. He turned to Flynn. There was a brief pause.

“And you, sir,” Moriarty nodded curtly. And with that, the social worker left them. The door rattled on its hinges as it shut behind him.

Flynn excitedly turned to his girls. “So, I was thinking that this calls for some adoption day celebration waffles.”

 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

 

Saturdays were Cassie’s favorite days. Eve didn’t work on Saturdays, so the girls both slept in while Flynn got up early and left to open the bookstore for the day.

This Saturday, however, was extra special.

Cassie had crawled into Eve and Flynn’s bed around nine o’clock, after Flynn had already up and gone for the day. Eve and Cassie laid in bed together and took naps, or read, or, as was the case today, Cassie thought out loud while Eve remained dead asleep.

The blonde was woken up by the ringing of her cell phone.

Without opening her eyes, she reached one arm out and grabbed the phone from her nightstand, accepted the call, and pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” she said, sleep still present in her voice.

Eve sat up suddenly. “Marge, hi.”

Cassie looked at Eve curiously. She knew she recognized that name, Marge, but she wasn’t sure quite why.

“When did you get back from your trip?” asked Eve, looking at the alarm clock. 9:21.

There was a moment of silence as Cassandra assumed Marge on the other end was talking.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” said Eve, looking at Cassie. “If you’ll give me just a minute I can get my laptop and I’ll let you FaceTime.” There was another pause. “No, the one with the statuses is Face _book_.”

Cassie watched as Eve climbed out of bed and walked to the desk where a collection of Flynn’s notes, books and papers littered the area. She shoved aside a stack of paper to reveal her MacBook underneath.

“Flynn’s at the store right now, it’s just me and Cassie today,” said Eve into the phone, setting the MacBook by Cassie on the bed. She opened the laptop, held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and pressed a bunch of buttons on her keyboard as Cassie sat, confused.

Suddenly, a box popped up on Eve’s screen and Cassie could see herself and Eve in a little box in the corner of the screen. Then, a woman’s face appeared in a much bigger window.

Eve hung up the phone. “Hi, Marge. How was the cruise?” she asked the laptop.

The woman on the screen smiled. “Oh, it was nothing I can’t talk about later,” she said, “I want to talk to Cassandra.”

Eve slid the laptop over slightly so that it was right in front of Cassie. “Cassandra,” Eve said, “This is Flynn’s mom, Margie Carsen.”

“Hi, Miss Margie,” said Cassie, waving to the screen.

Margie nearly shrieked. “You’re just cute as a button, aren’t you!” she said. “And please, you can call me Grandma.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “Oh, just saying it brings me so much joy. I thought it would never happen, you know. I was starting to wonder if Flynn would ever meet anyone—”

“Margie’s been on a seniors’ cruise in the Mediterranean since Christmas,” interrupted Eve. “We called her and left her several messages telling her that we had taken in a special little girl,” she rubbed the top of Cassandra’s head, “but she didn’t have her phone with her, so she just found out.”

Margie smiled, “And I couldn’t be more thrilled!” She continued to stare at Cassandra’s face on the screen. “I’m afraid I’m going to be staying in Europe for the summer, but I’m making plans to travel your way for the holidays,” said Margie. “By then, you might have a whole litter.”

Eve let out a fake laugh as she poked her head into the camera shot, “Well, Marge, I think Flynn and I have our hands full enough with one now,” said Eve. “I’m sure you know the feeling.”

“Oh, yes,” she agreed. “Why, I remember when Flynn was nine—”

“I’m sure Cassie will love this story,” Eve interrupted, hurriedly leaving the room. “I’ll get breakfast ready,” she shouted from the hallway.

Eve brought in breakfast twenty minutes later, and the two girls consumed breakfast burritos as Margie continued talking.

Cassandra listened to Margie’s stories about Flynn for around two hours. She actually did find them quite interesting, although a lot of the stories were about the girls Flynn liked in school. That seemed a bit weird, since Cassie couldn’t imagine Flynn liking any girls that weren’t Eve.

There was a loud horn sound from Margie’s end of the chat. “Oh, that’s my cue to leave. We’re spending the week in Marseilles, and Edith’s impatient when it comes to her Frenchmen.”

“Nice talking to ya, Marge,” said Eve.

“You too, Eve,” she said, “And I look forward to meeting you in person, Cassandra.”

Cassie waved. “Bye, have fun on your trip!”

Eve closed the laptop, effectively ending the call.

 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

 

“Because you’re a cover hog,” shot Eve, shoving a naked pillow into the pillowcase.

“I am _not_ ,” said Flynn defensively. “If I don’t take them, you kick them to the end of the bed, then nobody gets them. Which, I think, is worse.”

“You don’t need four blankets, Flynn, you’re already a human furnace. I tell you every single time we make the bed, and you still insist on sleeping with enough wool quilts to heat a small country.” She threw the top sheet across the length of the bed and began tucking it under on her side. “Tuck that in on _your_ side.”

“ _As you wish_ ,” said Flynn with a sweeping bow, earning him an eyeroll that he’d seen more times in his life than his own reflection.

Eve carefully placed the pillows at the head of the bed and moved to spread out the comforter. “I wish making the bed weren’t such an ordeal.”

“Well, even before we had Cassie, it took both of us to strip, wash, fold and replace all the sheets. Now there’s barely time in the day to sleep on the bed, much less anything else,” said Flynn logically.

“’Anything else’?” repeated Eve, raising an eyebrow.

Flynn’s tongue caught in his throat for a moment. “The uh…I meant the…stripping…uh… I mean the sheets and the laundry and the… the… uh…”

She let out a slight laugh and climbed across the bed to his side to peck the corner of his mouth. “Four years later, you’re still the weird bookworm I fell in love with.”

“Well, I’ve always been quite _dashing_ …” he said, finally managing to form sentences again.

“Sure you have,” she said sarcastically. “Now let’s finish making the bed and the rest of the chores, then maybe we’ll have time for ‘anything else’ before Judson and Cassie get back from the museum.”

Flynn’s speed picked up instantaneously.

Eve laughed.

“We do need to talk about Cassie, though,” Eve said, folding over the top end of the comforter to complete the bed making process. “We still haven’t made a decision about Doctor Devlin’s trials.”

“Oh yeah,” Flynn said. “That.”

“You sound like you’ve already decided against it,” she noted.

“The opposite, actually,” he replied. “I haven’t really found a reason not to. From every angle it seems like this will only work out for the better. Devlin said the chances of it making her worse are nearly null, and if it can help her in the long run, I think we should say yes.”

“I’ve found a few reasons not to,” said Eve, “I talked to our insurance, and the trial is privately funded and considered experimental. They won’t cover it. Devlin said that we’d be paying about five hundred out-of-pocket per treatment, and three treatments a month for four months… that’s an awful lot of money.”

“About six thousand,” Flynn said, “not unmanageable. We can get a small loan. If it helps her, isn’t it worth it?”

“It’s still experimental, Flynn. The doctor said it probably won’t make her worse, but it might not necessarily make her better, either. And I asked about the side effects. He said nausea and vomiting were the most common, and those are not exactly something I want to subject her to without heavy consideration, first.”

“I still think it’s the right decision,” said Flynn. “But you’re right, we should consider everything. I think we should ask Cassie what she wants.”

“Cassie’s five,” Eve said, lying down on the freshly made bed. “That’s a hard enough decision to make as an adult, much less as a five-year-old.”

“Well, our decision is going to affect her first and foremost. It seems only right,” said Flynn, lying down beside her.

“I suppose you’re right,” she admitted. “I’m not saying she should have the final decision, but we should take her thoughts into account.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Flynn said. “Now, remember what we were talking about before this…”

“About you being a furnace?”

“After that.”

Eve grinned. “You mean about you using way too many blankets?”

He sighed. “You see, sometimes I can’t tell if you’re saying things just to embarrass me or because you actually don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Usually the first one.”

 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

 

“Do you have your lunch? And you know my number, right? And your mom’s?” Flynn frantically scrambled around the living room. “It’s dangerous out there, you need to know those.” He reached his arms into the folds of the couch, and pulled them out full of paper clips and loose change. Flynn handed Cassie four quarters, a bus token and three dimes. “There’s that, in case you need to use a pay phone. You know how to call 911, right?”

“Nine-one-one,” said Cassie, nodding. It was 7:30 am on the first day of school, and Flynn was losing his mind, just a little bit. Cassie fiddled with the straps of her new purple backpack. She had been waiting for the first day of school for almost a whole month, when Eve had said she was old enough to start. Cassie was so excited to meet new friends to learn with, and have a new teacher, and get to spend the whole day learning about new things!

Eve emerged from the bathroom in her police officer getup. “Alright, Red, if we head out now we’ll have time to stop for breakfast before you head to school and I go to work.”

“But are you _sure_ she’s ready?” asked Flynn. “She’s still young, she can wait a few more years, right? Or better yet, we can homeschool. I’d be a great teacher. In fact, maybe we should do that and she shouldn’t go today at all. That seems like the best option, good idea, Eve.”

“I don’t think so, Dad,” said Eve. “Say goodbye, Cassie, you’ll see him tonight, _after_ school.”

Cassie smiled and pressed a kiss to Flynn’s cheek. She’d gotten taller over the past few months, and Flynn had just started to notice. Cassie wrapped her arms around Flynn’s neck and hugged him for a moment. “Don’t worry,” she whispered in his ear, “Mommy taught me all the pressure points to beat up a bad guy.”

Flynn blinked a few tears forming at his eyes and let out a small laugh as he hugged her back. “That’s my girl.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, noticing that she’d actually let Eve brush her long red hair properly this time. She must really be excited for school. “Be good, don’t talk to strangers, listen to your teachers, but most of all, learn something your old man doesn’t even know yet.”

“Okay,” she said, turning and reaching for Eve’s hand so that they could head out. “I love you, Daddy, I’ll see you after school!” she called back to him.

Flynn waved goodbye and slumped back onto the floor. This whole Dad thing was exhausting. It was then that he remembered something incredibly important that he hadn’t told Cassie yet, and he screamed it as the door was just latching closed behind them, “ _Don’t talk to any boys._ ”

\- - -

Eve walked Cassie through the halls of the elementary school, scanning the doors for the one marked “Mr. Jenkins’ Class”. Cassie held Eve’s hand and nearly vibrated as she strolled along through her new school. She noticed all the decorations along the walls; they’d just passed a big mural of cartoony children playing various different sports in a giant field covered in flowers, and along the opposite wall were giant corkboards displaying photos of all the teachers, almost all of whom had beaming smiles in their photos. In her peripheral vision, Cassie could see the name “Mr. Jenkins” cut out and stapled under a photo of a man with white hair and a big, silly bow tie. Cassie noticed that he wasn’t smiling.

“Here we go,” said Eve as they approached a door with a sign beside it in a crayon font. “‘Mr. Jenkins’, this is where your class is gonna be.”

Eve turned the door handle and ushered Cassandra inside.

The classroom smelled like paper and tempura paint. A row of cubbies aligned the wall to Cassie’s right, and in front of her and to the left were five large tables, each with five chairs arranged around them. The walls didn’t have any decorations except a border trim printed with all the letters of the alphabet and a lone calendar to the right of the blackboard.

Cassie looked around the classroom. They were a few minutes early, so about half of the seats in the classroom remained empty. Where should she sit?

“Hello, you must be Jenkins,” said Eve to an older man in a big red bow tie. She held out her hand for him to shake. “Colonel Eve Baird, I’m Cassandra’s mom.”

“ _Mister_ Jenkins,” corrected Mr. Jenkins as he hesitantly accepted the gesture. “Nice to meet you Colonel. Your husband is Flynn Carsen, that fellow from the library?”

“He’s left the library, actually,” said Eve. “But yes. You know him?”

“We have a history,” said Jenkins, “Quite a brief one. Some eight years ago I worked with Mr. Carsen. I represented a privately funded enterprise seeking to purchase some collectible books at auction in Tacoma; Mr. Carsen, at the time, was the appraiser for the literature collection. We chatted for a bit, and he did a fair amount of appraisal work for me afterward. Until I left the company to become a teacher here, that is.”

“Huh, great coincidence, then,” Eve said. She turned around to see Cassandra huddling behind her legs, staring up at her with big blue eyes. “Cassie, aren’t you going to say hello to your teacher?”

“Hello,” said Cassandra quietly. “Where do I sit?”

“Hello to you as well, Cassandra,” said Mr. Jenkins. “And, well, as for seating, I’ve placed you at the Red table.” He gestured to the table nearest the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. On top of it sat a red pail of lightly used crayons. “There’s a name tag placed on the back of each chair, so you can find the one marked for you. Do you need help spelling your name, young lady?”

“No sir,” said Cassie politely. “I can spell my name. My daddy taught me how.”

“Yes, I’m certain he did,” said Jenkins. He turned back to Eve. “Well, it’s been a pleasure. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you in the future. Do tell Mr. Carsen I said hello.”

“You betcha,” she said. Eve knelt down beside Cassandra. “Okay, honey. I’ve gotta go to work now, but you’re gonna be just fine here by yourself, right?”

Cassie nodded. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Of course you will,” said Eve, pressing a kiss to Cassie’s forehead. “I’ll see you after school, okay? And make sure you listen to Mr. Jenkins.”

“Okay,” Cassie said. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby,” Eve said with a smile. She pulled the little girl in for one last hug. With that, Cassie excitedly ran over to her table and found the chair with her name written on the back in perfect handwriting. Eve smiled at her, watching as Cassie happily removed her pencil case and kitten notebook and sat in her seat. _She’ll be fine._

Eve kept smiling, even as she left the classroom.

Cassie sat quietly in her seat, carefully tracing her name at the top of the first page of her notebook. Some more kids arrived and a few of them were seated at the table with Cassie, but she paid them little attention. Instead, she focused on using the crayons in the red pail on the table to decorate the name she’d written.

“Alright everyone, please take your seats,” said Mr. Jenkins as the tardy bell rang.

It took a moment, but the children were all seated. Cassie noticed that the only empty chair left was the one sitting right beside her. She leaned over and looked at the back of the chair to see the name written on it. Before Cassandra could see the full name, the sound of the classroom door opening caught her attention.

A boy entered the classroom, his face pointed to the floor. Cassie looked at him inquisitively. He had short brown hair and his jeans and shoes were both covered in mud. _He should take a bath_ , she thought.

“Ah, Mr. Stone,” said Mr. Jenkins to the boy. “What a, erm, pleasure to see you again. I’ve assigned you the seat here beside Cassandra.”

Cassie waved and grinned.

The boy looked up at Cassie, then to Mr. Jenkins. “Thank you, sir,” said the boy politely.

“Yes, well,” said Jenkins, “take your seat, please. It’s the first day and we mustn’t keep the class waiting.”

The boy quietly sulked over to the seat beside Cassie and kept his eyes low.

“Hi,” Cassandra said to him with a smile. Eve and Flynn had told her to be nice and make friends, so she figured this was the perfect time to introduce herself. “I’m Cassie.”

The boy studied her for a moment. “Nice to meet you, Cassie.” He nodded at her in recognition. “I’m Jake.”

 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

 

It turned out that Cassie did make a friend. Over the next several weeks of school, Cassie and Jake were put together on several group projects and they almost always sat next to each other at lunch time. Jake didn’t like to talk very much, but Cassie talked more than enough for the both of them.

They mostly talked about school and books. Cassie told Jake about all of the cool things she read, what Flynn had been teaching her at home and crazy stories from the bookstore.

One day, while the kindergarten class was at lunch, Cassandra had a particularly fun adventure to tell Jake about.

“So then the shelf fell over, but the bird kept flying around and it was trying to find somewhere to land, but Charlene and Mommy and Daddy were all standing there, ready to catch it so they could let it go outside. Then Daddy tried to jump, and the bird dived down super-fast and landed right in the—” Cassie’s tale was interrupted by the principal’s voice over the intercom.

“Cassandra Carsen, please report to the principal’s office,” barked the monotone voice.

All of the students at the table for Mr. Jenkins’ class turned their heads to stare at her. One girl named Mabel snickered. “Ohhhh, Cassandra’s in _trouble_!”

Cassie looked around nervously.

“That’s enough,” said Mr. Jenkins, approaching the table. He was holding Cassie’s backpack in one hand; he must have collected it from the classroom to take it with her to the office. “Cassandra, if you will, please pack your things.”

The students continued to whisper as she did so.

Mr. Jenkins walked with Cassie from the cafeteria, down one hall and into the third door on the right, near the main entrance to the school. Jenkins pushed open the door and led Cassandra inside.

Cassie entered to see Eve sitting in one of the waiting chairs, reading one of the magazines they’d placed out. She wasn’t wearing her police uniform, just a white long sleeved shirt and jeans.

Eve heard the door opening and looked up from her magazine. “Hey, Red,” she greeted with a smile. “Ready to go?”

“Go where?” asked Cassie, looking around.

“You’ve got an appointment today, remember?” said Eve, standing up and taking Cassie’s backpack from Jenkins. “I told you I was picking you up early.”

“Oh, right _._ ” Cassie had forgotten. After the bird incident the night before, it had completely escaped her that she was supposed to go for a treatment today.

“Did you get to finish your lunch?” asked Eve, leading Cassie back out the door.

Cassie shook her head, “We had just got there, then they called me to the office.”

“Then I suppose we have a perfect excuse to grab some grilled cheeses before we head to the hospital,” said Eve with a wink.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

 

Cassandra had never dressed up for Halloween before. So when Flynn and Eve told her they were going costume shopping, she had no idea what to expect.

The Halloween store was incredible. There were racks of costumes, silly masks and scary masks alike hanging along the walls, toy swords and guns and magic wands in barrels scattered all around.

“I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” said Flynn to Eve. Cassie had overheard them talking about something called “couples’ costumes”, and she could tell that Eve wasn’t a fan.

“If you suggest another costume with ‘sexy’ in the title, you’re going to be staying home and passing out candy,” said Eve. Flynn apparently took that to heart and closed his mouth.

“So where’s the kids’ section?” asked Eve, scanning around. She spotted a sign reading “Little Monsters” with a picture of a little boy wearing a devil costume. “Found it.”

Eve and Cassie walked hand in hand through the racks of costumes without giving them a second glance. Flynn, however, was more squeamish. A teenager in a werewolf mask jumped out from behind the skeleton display with a loud, “Boo!”

Eve raised an eyebrow, Cassie laughed and Flynn screamed.

“Halloween is for costumes and candy, not for scaring the daylights out of _innocent bystanders_ ,” remarked Flynn.

“Look!” cried Cassie, pulling Eve along behind her. She pointed to a plastic package with a photo of a little boy in a police officer uniform on it. “I could dress up like you, Mommy.”

“You could,” agreed Eve. “But let’s keep looking around to see if there’s something you like better.” She leaned over toward Flynn. “She could wear a diaper and pacifier and go as you.”

Flynn huffed indignantly. “That kid came out of _nowhere_.”

Cassie plucked a packaged costume from the display and held it up for her parents to see. “Can I get this one, _please_?” she begged.

Eve smiled as she took the costume and examined it. “Our daughter wants to be Prince Charming,” Eve said to Flynn. “What d’ you think?”

“If she’s Prince Charming, can I be a dragon?” asked Flynn.

Eve rolled her eyes. “You can get this one, Cass. Just make sure you’ve looked at everything and you’re sure that’s the one you want.”

“I’m sure,” said Cassie. “I wanna be the prince like in Sleeping Beauty. He’s brave and he stops the bad guys and saves the princess.”

“Speaking of which,” Flynn grinned as he plucked a hanger from a nearby costume rack. “This is only appropriate.”

The girls turned to see what he was holding up for them. In Flynn’s hands was a long, glittery pink dress and stapled to the hanger was a plastic bag with an obnoxiously large fake tiara.

“It’s a princess costume!” cried Cassie. “Mommy, you can be the princess and I’ll be your prince!”

The distaste was clear as day on Eve’s face. “I don’t think—”

“Oh, wait!” Cassie interrupted, diving into a nearby barrel full of plastic swords and handcuffs. She emerged with a set of nunchucks in her hands and handed them to Eve. “Now you can be a ninja princess.”

“A ninja princess,” Eve repeated, looking back at the dress. “Right.”

“And even better, the princess costume is on sale,” said Flynn, raising his eyebrows with a smirk.

She sighed as she took the costume from Flynn. “I’m only doing this out of love for our child.”

Flynn and Cassandra both jumped in excitement. Then, Cassie sprinted to find herself the perfect prince’s shield.

 

Friday, June 5, 2015

 

The school year moved by quickly. Eve would drop Cassie off every morning, and after school she’d walk three blocks to the bookstore where she’d regale Flynn and Charlene with an account of her day, the things she had learned and seen. Eve would pick them both up on her way home from work around six o’clock and they’d all drive home together, when Cassie would fill in Eve on all the details of school that she had yet to know.

Sooner than any of them could blink, it was the last day of the school year. Cassie was sad that the year was over, but Eve had assured her she’d see her friends—meaning Jake—and Mr. Jenkins—whom had grown quite fond of Cassandra, although he refused to admit it—the following school year.

The last day of school was a half day, so the final bell rang to release the children from their classes at 12:30. The very moment the bell rang, all of the other kids sprinted for the door, except for Jake and Cassandra.

Cassie walked over to Jenkins, who had begun packing up all of his files from his desk.

“Mr. Jenkins?” said Cassie.

Jenkins turned to her. “Yes, Cassandra?”

She motioned for him to come closer, so he knelt down so he was at eye level.

“I wanted to say thank you for being the best teacher,” she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. She smiled and turned to collect her things.

Jake’s backpack straps were held together with duct tape, and he carefully slung it over his shoulder. He looked to the redhead and stood awkwardly for a moment before speaking. “I’ll see you next year, Cassie. Have a good summer.”

Cassie beamed as she put her own backpack on and picked up her lunch pail. “See you in first grade!” She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, then, with a bounce in her step, proceeded to the door.

“Have a good summer!” she called to the both of them, and she skipped outside.

\- - -

Cassie approached the student pickup area and scanned around for Eve or Flynn. To her surprise, she found both.

The flash from Flynn’s camera nearly blinded her.

“It’s broad daylight, Flynn,” said Eve exasperatedly, “turn off the flash.”

“I’m trying!” he said, pressing various buttons. The flash went off again.

Cassie greeted Eve with a hug around her waist. “How come you’re both here?” she asked Eve. “I thought you had work.”

“I did, but I left work early to go somewhere with your dad,” Eve explained.

Cassie looked puzzled. “Where did you go?”

“That,” Flynn interjected, “is a secret. One we’re going to tell you over lunch. How about some tacos?”

\- - -

The mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant they went to smelled like the stale corn chips they served. Cassie had already eaten approximately her weight in Spanish rice, and Flynn had consumed so much salsa that he was more tomato than he was human.

“Can you tell me the secret now?” asked Cassie for the third time since they’d sat down.

The parents made eye contact with each other, and they came to some sort of unspoken agreement. Flynn switched to the opposite side of the booth and sat beside Eve, so the two of them were looking at Cassie.

“So, before we tell you the secret,” Eve began, “we have to ask you some questions first.”

Cassie reached for her cup and took a long sip of chocolate milk. “Okay,” she said.

“Well,” Eve continued, “The big question we want to ask you,” she looked to Flynn, who nodded in encouragement, “is how would you feel about having someone else living with us?”

Cassie beamed. “Is someone moving in with us?” She thought for a moment, “Is it Charlene? Charlene could take me to school, and she can stay in my room with me! It can be like a sleepover!”

Flynn coughed. “Oh, no. Not Charlene, no way.”

“We weren’t talking about Charlene,” Eve said, elbowing Flynn.

“Then who?” asked Cassandra, puzzled.

“That’s just it,” Flynn said, leaning on his elbows on the table. “The secret is that earlier we went to the Children’s Center.”

Cassie’s eyes widened. Why would they want to go there?

“We went there because we got a call from Mr. Moriarty a few days ago,” continued Flynn, “asking us to go in and meet a new little boy who had just arrived.”

“He’s four, and he’s staying at the Center just like you were,” said Eve, “And Mr. Moriarty thought we might want to meet him and, maybe,” she took a breath, “let him come stay with us.”

Cassandra had to think for a moment. They had done the exact same thing when they had gone to the Center to get _her_ , and if they wanted to let someone else come live with them, then that meant…

“I’m gonna be a big _sister_!” Cassie exclaimed, accidentally knocking Flynn’s water glass onto the floor, where the green plastic echoed as it hit the tile.

Eve and Flynn exchanged glances again.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” said Eve. “You have to understand, this little boy and you are very different, Cass. And being a big sister isn’t easy, you’ll have to help. Help making lunch, help him with homework, help cleaning up…”

“That’s okay, I can do all that _easy_ ,” Cassie said. She bounced in her seat with excitement. “I’m gonna have a little brother!”

“That you will,” said Eve with a laugh. “We’re gonna go pick him up next Friday, we’re just waiting on some papers to go through.”

“I’m gonna be a big sister on Friday!” said Cassie to herself. _Just one week to wait_.

 

Friday, June 12, 2015

 

“Are you ready, Cass?” asked Flynn, swinging Cassandra’s arm back and forth. The Children’s Center seemed smaller and a lot more boring than Cassie remembered, but she had never really paid attention to it before. She was very happy she didn’t have to live there anymore.

“I’m _so_ excited!” Cassie said as she began jumping up and down. “I’m gonna be a big sister, and me and my new brother can play together and I can read him all my _favorite_ books and now we can get cake on _another_ birthday and it’s gonna be _so_ fun!”

The sound of the doorknob turning caught both of their attentions. The Play Room door slowly swung open and Eve emerged with a beaming smile. “Don’t be shy,” Eve said to something behind her that the other two couldn’t see. “I have someone here that’s been waiting to meet you.”

Suddenly, Cassandra could see a head of messy black hair poke out from behind Eve’s legs, along with a pair of curious— _mischievous?_ Cassandra wondered if she was using the word mischievous right—brown eyes.

“You know Flynn,” said Eve, gesturing an arm out to the aforementioned husband. “And this,” Eve crouched down beside the boy and pointed to Cassie, “is our daughter, Cassandra.”

The boy made no facial expression, but waved his hand to acknowledge Cassie. Cassie beamed and waved back.

“Cassandra,” Eve said, “this is your new brother, Ezekiel.”


	2. let our hearts, like doors, open wide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With newest addition Ezekiel in the Baird-Carsen home, the whole family has to make adjustments. And learn a few lessons along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter far too long in the making--I can partially blame a wrist and hand injury I had, but realistically it was pure lack of motivation--but hopefully this is worth the exceptional wait.  
> The fanmix version: http://8tracks.com/arammojtabai/we-ll-tell-our-stories-on-these-walls

  

Friday, June 12, 2015

 

     “And this is your room,” said Eve, swinging open the bedroom door.

     Cassie hadn’t gone in the extra bedroom in a long time. When she had first started living with Eve and Flynn, she’d explored it but had found the room boring and empty, so she never bothered to look at it.

     Apparently, Eve and Flynn had been renovating it right under her nose.

     The once empty room now had a low-risen twin bed in the corner, perfectly made with dark gray sheets and a black comforter. A small table sat by the bed, and on it were a digital clock and a lamp with a shade covered in sports balls. Cassie noticed the toy box almost immediately; it looked just like the one she had. It was white with a red lid to the toy compartment, with a built-in mini bookshelf on top. However, this toy box only had a few books on it, with lots of empty space. Cassie’s was completely full.

     Ezekiel entered the room hesitantly and gave it a once-over. It was pretty nice. It was bigger than any room he’d ever had before, and he had a big kid bed in this one. He scanned the walls and floor; the walls were plain white, without decorations, but there was a big rug on the floor designed to look like a bird’s eye view of a city, with the streets the perfect size for placing toy cars on.

     He knew he wasn’t going to be there long, but it seemed like a nice place to hang out for a little while, before they sent him back.

\- - -

     Ezekiel spent most of his first day at the Baird-Carsen house alone in his new room, rummaging through the toy box. It was about half-full (or half empty, depending on where you stood on that spectrum), and there was a complete assortment of toys all mixed in. He’d quickly taken to the half dozen Matchbox cars rolling around the bottom, and just as quickly turned his nose up at the slightly worn out teddy bear.

     Eve, having heard some parts of Ezekiel’s history from Moriarty that she wished she could forget, had granted the boy isolation when he’d made it clear that he desired it. She would crack open the bedroom door slightly every so often, just to poke her head in and make sure he was still playing with his toys. Each time she would walk back up to the door, she would find it closed again.

     After over a year of only having Cassandra—the energetic chatterbox who didn’t like playing alone, or reading alone, or eating alone—this was an adjustment.

     Cassie had been looking forward to having a little brother, and was having trouble understanding why he was staying inside his room.

     “When can ‘Zekiel come out and play with me?” she asked Eve, as the two of them sat at the dining table, assembling a five-hundred-piece tiger puzzle.

     “He needs some time, Cass,” Eve explained, turning a piece around and trying to fit it into a section of the puzzle to no avail. “He might have a harder time adjusting to the new home than you did.”

     “Maybe we can take him to the bookstore,” suggested Cassie, “to see Charlene and Judson.”

     Eve sat her puzzle piece down and looked at Cassandra. “We’re actually going to wait a little while before introducing Ezekiel to Charlene and Judson.”

     Cassie furrowed her brow. “Why?”

     “Because Ezekiel’s had some trouble with other homes before, and we didn’t want to overwhelm him,” she brushed a strand of red hair from Cassandra’s face, “We met him a little over a month ago, and it took him a while to warm up to Flynn. He just needs time, honey.”

     “But how long?” asked Cassie forlornly.

     “I’m not sure,” Eve said. “Just be patient. Maybe after dinner you can ask him if he wants to play, but you just have to remember this place is new to him and it might be a little scary.”

     “Okay, I’ll ask then.” And Cassandra counted the minutes to dinnertime.

\- - -

     They ordered pizza that night, as per Ezekiel’s request.

     The delivery boy showed up in thirty-eight minutes—Flynn was disappointed to learn the thirty-minute rule no longer applied—and Eve called to Ezekiel down the hallway for dinner, while she and Cassie cleared the completed (well, give or take the one piece remaining that they couldn’t find) puzzle off the dining table.

     Ezekiel came running at the thought of pizza.

     Giving the delivery boy a silver dollar as his tip, Flynn shut the door with his foot and proceeded to the dining room, two pizza boxes in his hands.

     “So we have one pepperoni, one half plain cheese and half onions and bell peppers,” he announced, placing the boxes on the table just and Cassie managed to fit the lid back onto the puzzle box.

     Ezekiel climbed onto a chair and nearly lunged for the top box.

     Eve placed her hand on top of the box to stop him. “Not yet, we’ve got to finish setting the table first.”

     The boy huffed.

     Cassie went around the table and put down three plates, before realizing that she was now one plate short and scrambling back to the kitchen to fish another one from the clean dishwasher.

     Ezekiel groaned as he waited for everyone else. He peered around momentarily to see if anyone was watching him, and Flynn, Eve and Cassie were all in the kitchen getting drinks, napkins and extra plates.

     He leaned forward to open the top pizza box, and had just torn himself off a slice of pepperoni when the silence was broken by Eve’s voice.

     “Table’s not set, Jones,” she said.

     Ezekiel looked around, but her voice had come from the kitchen. How did she know he was…

     “I see all, kid,” said her voice again, answering his unspoken question.

     Just then, she emerged from the kitchen with four cups in her two hands, carefully putting them around the table at each place setting.

     Cassandra scrambled behind her with a plate held with both hands. She held it up to Ezekiel. “Here you go,” said Cassie.

     He squinted at her a moment, then took the plate.

     Flynn then appeared from the kitchen as well. “I may have accidentally, perhaps, maybe spilled fruit punch all over the napkins. But, fortunately, I used the remaining napkins to clean up the spill!” He explained to Eve, “But, long story short, there’s no more napkins.”

     She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s fine,” she noted the puzzle piece tangled in the hair on the back of Cassandra’s head. “I think it’s bath night, anyway.”

     Cassie climbed into her seat beside Flynn’s and the two adults likewise sat.

     Ezekiel was practically twitching, and Eve noticed.

     “Dig in,” she said to him with a wink.

     He lunged for the pepperoni and had finished his first slice before the rest of them had even taken the first bite of theirs.

     “’Zekiel?” said Cassie as she bit into her slice of cheese pizza. “Do you wanna play after dinner?”

     Ezekiel’s cheeks were comically full and he swallowed heavily. “Oh,” he looked around and saw that Flynn and Eve were both waiting for his answer as well. “Uh, sure.”

     Cassie beamed, “Yay!” she took another bite, “I have a new game Grandma sent me for my birthday, but I couldn’t play it because it needs four players.”

     “Make sure you chew with your mouth closed, Cass,” said Flynn through a mouthful of cheese and pizza crust.

     Eve’s eyes flickered between Cassie and Flynn, and she couldn’t help but notice that they truly were one in the same. If you didn’t know any better, anyone would assume he was her biological father. Their mutual love of books, their curious minds and high energy levels; they couldn’t have been more similar.

     She looked at Ezekiel for a moment and wondered if that meant he was going to be just like her.

     Ezekiel let out a burp so loud that the table shook.

     God help her.

\- - -

     “Should I recite the Five Little Monkeys?” asked Eve, pushing open the door to Ezekiel’s bedroom. He had one final jump on his mattress, then landed on his bum and bounced slightly into the air.

     “It’s really bouncy,” said Ezekiel, “I couldn’t help it.”

     The corner of Eve’s mouth turned up. “I know you couldn’t, kid.” She sighed and plopped down on the twin bed beside the boy. “I know you’re still adjusting, but I just came to tuck you in. Or are you too cool for that?”

     Ezekiel shrugged. “I’m too big for tucks, but if you want to I guess you can.”

     Knowing that he was trying to keep a cool exterior, Eve rolled her eyes. “Flynn’s tucking Cassie in, then he’s gonna come say goodnight too.”

     He shrugged again.

     “So, do you want to read a story before bed?” asked Eve.

     “No, I wanna play with my cars,” he said, fiddling with two matchbox cars in his hands.

     “Well, the cars have to go in the toybox now,” she held her hand out for him to put the toys in. “It’s time for bed.”

     Ezekiel groaned. “Fine,” he placed the cars in her hand with a roll of his eyes.

     With a smile, Eve patted his head and went to put the toys away.

     There was a soft knock on the door before Flynn entered. “Are we reading a story?”

     Eve shook her head. “Not tonight. And Mr. Jones here says he’s too old for tucks, but he’s allowing me the pleasure of tucking him in anyway.”

     “That’s nice of him,” said Flynn with a smile at Ezekiel. He reached over and mussed the boy’s floppy hair. Ezekiel responded with a glare. “Sorry,” Flynn apologized, “Just wanted to say goodnight and make sure you had enough blankets, and we put a nightlight next to the toybox, but we have a spare if you nee-”

     “I don’t need a nightlight, I’m not scared of the dark,” said the boy defensively. “I’m not scared of _anything_.”

     “Well you can keep the light anyway,” Eve said, sitting back down beside Ezekiel on the bed. “Goodnight, Jones,” she pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead, which he hastily wiped off. Cooties. She smiled anyway. “We’ll be right down the hall if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

     He nodded.

     Flynn leaned down to kiss the top of Ezekiel’s head as well. “We’ll see you in the morning, we’re all going to go out for breakfast then go shopping and get you some new clothes.”

     Ezekiel shrugged. “Fine.”

     “We’ll get a smile out of you yet, kid,” said Eve, standing up. “Let’s tuck you in, if you haven’t changed your mind on allowing me to do so.”

\- - -

     Cassandra usually loved sleeping. She liked naps, she liked jammies, she liked bedtime stories. But tonight she was particularly full of energy, and who could blame her? It was her first night as a big sister, after all. And so after she’d been tucked in, Cassie laid in her bed for what felt like ages, thinking about what she could do to spend more time with Ezekiel. She thought going to the park would be fun, but they couldn’t go by themselves, and it was late. So not the park tonight.

     Then Cassie thought about what she thought would make Ezekiel really happy. Cassie loved bedtime stories, so maybe she could read him another bedtime story! That way they were still doing their bedtime routine, so Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t mind if she was out of her bed after her bedtime.

     Slipping carefully out from under her covers, little feet covered by the feet of her pink footie pajamas, pattering softly along the carpet, Cassie went to her bookshelf. She was looking for a good book that Ezekiel might like that wasn’t too hard for her to read. Cassie was a pretty good reader, but she wasn’t quite ready for chapter books yet.

     Then, in the dim light cast by her nightlight (which projected little spinning stars onto the ceiling, a feature Cassie adored), she saw the very first book that Eve had ever given to her. The little girl pulled the book from the shelf and examined it, the same rabbit with a top hat standing on two legs on the cover, a big, buck-toothed smile on his face.

     Cassandra had to reach up to turn the knob on her door, but quickly made her way to Ezekiel’s room.

     Ezekiel, at the sound of the knob turning and the door squeaking open, jolted up in his bed. With one hand, he placed the matchbox car he had been playing with under his pillow, expecting that Eve was coming in to check on him. Instead, he looked to the door and saw Cassandra, still in her pajamas, carrying a little book with her.

     Cassie flicked the light switch, letting light back into the dark room, and squinting as her eyes readjusted.

     “What are you doing?” asked Ezekiel, his eyes adjusting as well.

     She gave him a wide smile and climbed onto the end of his bed. “I came to read you a story. ‘Cause I thought it would be fun, and if we read together it means we can be friends.”

     “I don’t wanna read,” pouted Ezekiel.

     Cassie looked puzzled. “Oh, I can come back later, and maybe we can read some tomorrow instead, if you’re sleepy. And we can play.”

     “No!” cried Ezekiel, throwing his covers off. “No books! Books are boring! And I don’t wanna be your friend!”

     “What?” The redheaded girl couldn’t understand. Did she say something bad on accident? Why wouldn’t he want to be her friend? They were a family now! “But books are so much fun! And you’re my brother now.”

     “No I’m not,” huffed Ezekiel, climbing out of bed and heading for the door. “You’re just a smelly girl.”

     Cassie’s heart sank. Ezekiel couldn’t mean the things he was saying. She wondered if maybe he was just crabby because she woke him up. Oh, maybe she woke him up on accident! That would make sense. She hopped off the bed as well and scampered after him.

     “What are you doing?” asked Cassie, following Ezekiel into the kitchen. She watched as he pulled out a row of drawers to form a little makeshift staircase and effortlessly climbed onto the counter. “Get down!” Cassie said. “You might fall!”

     “Shhh!” said Ezekiel. “You’re gonna wake them up and get us in trouble!”

     “You’re not supposed to—”

     Ezekiel opened the cabinet and pulled a box of Girl Scout Cookies off the top shelf. He looked down at Cassandra. “Shut up!”

     Cassie stood agasp, her rabbit book falling out of her hands and making a smacking sound as it hit the kitchen floor. There was a brief silence as the two children stared at each other, Cassie’s chin starting to tremble as she took in his harsh words.

     She let in a shaky breath, and suddenly Cassandra was crying.

     “Shhh!” Ezekiel cried, quickly clambering down off the counter, cookies still in his hands. “Don’t cry! I’m sorry! Just don’t get me in trouble!”

     The sound of a door closing startled the boy and Cassie, tears cascading down her face, hiccuped and then turned and ran out of the kitchen. Ezekiel could hear her soft cry of “Mommy…” as she headed directly to Eve and Flynn’s room.

     Eve, having heard the commotion, was halfway down the hallway when Cassandra ran straight into her.

     “Hey, Red,” said Eve, kneeling down to the little girl’s height. She saw Cassie’s face wet with tears and heard her little sniffling noises. “What’s the matter? What are you doing out of bed?”

     “Ze—” Cassandra was struggling to get a breath in between her sobs, “’Zekiel was…was mean to me.” She threw her little arms around Eve’s neck and buried her face in her shoulder. “I don’t want a brother anymore.”

     “Oh, Cass, don’t say that,” said Eve, scooping the girl up in her arms and soothingly rubbing her back. “Tell me what happened.”

     Eve heard the door behind her open, and turned to see Flynn emerging from their room. “What’s going on?” he asked, noticing Cassie clinging onto Eve, her tears seeming to slow down into sniffles. “Cassie, are you okay?”

     “She’s upset,” said Eve, “Can you take her?”

     Flynn nodded and reached out his hands to take Cassie. She reached out to him in return and settled her head in the crook of his neck, wiping away the wetness on her face with her sleeve. Flynn pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Do you wanna tell me what happened?” he asked, brushing red hair from her face.

     “Give me a minute to talk to Ezekiel,” said Eve to Flynn, and she started padding toward the kitchen.

     She found Ezekiel sitting on the kitchen floor, with three thin mints in each hand and one in his mouth. Ezekiel turned his head to look up at her and shrugged innocently. “I can put some back,” he said through a mouthful, raising one fist full of cookies up for her to take.

     Eve signed and sat down cross-legged on the floor beside him. “Let’s put the cookies away.”

     Ezekiel shook his head. “I don’t wanna,” he told her, spitting crumbs as he spoke.

     “Well, I want to talk to you and I can’t do that when your mouth is full,” she responded civilly, carefully taking them from his hands and placing them back in the empty box.  “Ezekiel, did you say something to Cassie?” she asked.

     The little boy swallowed and regarded his hands, which were now sticky with melted chocolate. He wiped them on the front of his pajamas. “No,” he lied.

     “I don’t think that’s the truth,” she said. His eyes were looking pointedly at the floor.

     “She was being annoying,” said Ezekiel.

     Eve examined him. “And what did you say to her?”

     “Nothing.”

     “Ezekiel,” she said more sternly, “don’t say things that aren’t true. I know you haven’t been here for very long, but you’re part of our family now. Family doesn’t tell each other lies, or say mean things, and family doesn’t take things without asking.”

     “No!” he cried, crossing his arms. “All my old families used to take my toys and be mean to me, so I don’t care!”

     “I know you’ve had some families before that weren’t very nice to you,” she explained softly, “but, Ezekiel, those weren’t real families. Real families love each other, and they tell each other the truth and they use kind words. That's why you're with us now. You might not feel like it yet, but I promise you we _are_ your real family. And you just hurt your real sister's feelings and stole cookies from your real dad’s stash.”

     “You just want me to listen to you so I won’t take stuff anymore,” he spat.

     Eve brushed some moppy black hair from his eyes. “I want you to listen to me so you know that I care about you and I want you to want to be here. I want you and Cassie to be friends, and I want you to be a good kid.”

     “Whatever,” said Ezekiel.

     “Now, why don’t we go apologize to Cassie, then get you in some clean pajamas. It’s getting late.”

     Ezekiel sighed, but picked himself up off the floor. Eve took his hand, ignoring the cookie residue still present on his palms, and walked with him to Cassie’s room.

     Flynn was sitting on Cassie’s bed with his back against her headboard and the little girl seated in front of him, holding a Dr. Seuss book. Her eyes were still slightly red from crying, but her sadness had been replaced with a glowing smile as she listened reverently as Flynn recited the words of The Cat in the Hat to her.

     At the sound of his wife and son entering, Flynn stopped reading. Cassie too turned to see Ezekiel and Eve opening the door.

     “Sorry to interrupt,” said Eve, “Ezekiel just has something he wants to say.”

     All eyes turned to the boy, who kept his eyes down. “I’m sorry, Cassie,” he said.

     “For?” Eve pushed.

     “For telling you to shut up,” he added.

     “Cassie, do you have anything to say?” asked Eve.

     Cassie nodded. “I forgive you, Ezekiel. I’m sorry I was bothering you.”

     “Alright, that’s what I like to hear!” said Flynn with a beaming smile. “Everybody getting along. Ezekiel, would you like to join us for the rest of the story?”

     Ezekiel shrugged. “I guess.”

     An hour later, Ezekiel Jones was asleep in his own bed, with dreams of Thing 1 and Thing 2 dancing in his head. And he would never admit it, but he had been tempted to ask for one more bedtime story.

 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

     It was an extra special Saturday for Cassandra Cillian-Carsen. Flynn had been called into the bookstore for a “biography emergency”, so he would be gone for a few hours, leaving Eve to take care of the kids. As per tradition, Cassie had woken up early and crawled back into bed beside Eve, once Flynn had left.  And Ezekiel, was granted a free pass to do something he hadn’t previously been allowed—the opportunity to sleep in as late as he wanted.

     In fact, Eve and Cassie had already woken up, eaten their cereal, brushed their teeth and read the first half of a Magic Tree House book by the time Ezekiel padded out of his room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

     “He lives,” said Eve, looking up from her spot beside Cassie on the couch. “You up for some breakfast, ‘Zeke? We’ve got sugar cereal.”

     He yawned loudly. “Can I have Apple Jacks?”

     “Well, fortunately,” Eve began, marking the page in the book they’d been reading and lifting herself off of the couch, “We stocked up, so we’ve got a whole unopened box of Apple Jacks just for you.”

     Cassie climbed off the couch as well and followed Eve into the kitchen. “Cinnamon Toast Crunch is _my_ favorite,” she told Ezekiel.

     He insisted on making the cereal himself. Eve entertained the idea, but intervened when Ezekiel’s first step was to fill the bowl to the rim with milk, _then_ try to pour in the Apple Jacks.

     Ezekiel Jones was a cereal eating machine. After two bowls and a sly snagging of the box from the counter to make himself a third, Eve had to cut him off.

     “Lunch is in three hours, kid,” she told him, closing the box and placing it back on the high shelf. “Maybe we should call it a day on the cereal. Why don’t we get your teeth brushed and watch a movie?”

     Knowing Ezekiel would have trouble adjusting to the new house, new family and new lifestyle, Eve had prepared plenty of Plan B activities to keep the children entertained. She’d bought a dozen family movies on Amazon, hoping at least one would satisfy both Cassie and Ezekiel, however opposite they may be.

     So, as Ezekiel padded off to brush his teeth and Cassie sorted her stuffed animals on the end of her bed—she had decided sorting by habitat was the best way to do so—Eve began hooking up the DVD player. Or, she tried. She’d had to pull it out of a box in the closet, covered in dust with and with no instructions.

     Ezekiel walked up behind her and saw her pushing buttons on the remote, trying to get the thing to turn on. “Did you plug it in right?” he asked.

     She sighed and squinted at the play button on the face of the DVD player. “Not sure, kid. This is a learning experience.”

     He sat down on his knees beside her and looked at it. “You didn’t plug it into the TV. Where’s the cord?”

     Eve looked around, and realized she had been sitting on the HDMI cord that was in the box with the device. She’d wondered what that was for.

     Ezekiel finagled one end of the cord into the DVD player and had to reach around the tv to blindly search for the socket for the other end to go in. Eve helped by turning the television to see the back, and suddenly the TV illuminated with the DVD loading screen.

     “Thanks, Jones,” said Eve. “You know your stuff.”

     He shrugged. “I helped fix the one at my old house when it was broken.”

     She smiled at him. “Looks like we’ll have to make an engineer out of you.”

     Ezekiel shrugged again, “What movie are we gonna watch?”

     “I’ll go get Cassie, you two can pick one together,” Eve said, picking herself up off of the carpet to retrieve her daughter.

     He began looking through the selections of films in the Amazon box on the coffee table. He saw a few good choices—Aladdin, the Lion King—

     “Are you gonna watch with us, Mommy?” asked Cassie, suddenly standing right beside him.

     Eve nodded. “Sure, if you don’t mind me getting a little bit of work done at the same time.”

     “Yay! We’re gonna have a family movie night! Well, except Daddy, but maybe he can watch with us when he gets back,” Cassie exclaimed. She looked at the movies Ezekiel had strewn about the table. “Look, Toy Story!” She picked it up and showed it to Eve. “Can we watch it, pretty please?”

     Eve sat down on the couch. “You two will have to pick one out together.”

     Cassandra then looked to Ezekiel. “Let’s watch this one!”

     Ezekiel shook his head. “I don’t wanna watch Toy Story.”

     Surprised, Cassie pouted. “Why not?”

     “Because,” he shrugged, “it looks boring.” He selected another case and held it up for her to see. “I want this one!”

     Cassie examined the cover. “The Iron Giant,” she read slowly, trying to sound out the word ‘iron’ in her head. “But I want to watch _my_ movie.”

     Eve looked up from the manila folder full of papers she had been sorting. “Cassandra, remember it’s not just your pick. Ezekiel gets to help too.”

     The young girl groaned. “But I want _this_ movie and he wants _that_ one, so only one of us can watch the one we want.”

     Eve nodded as if truly considering that statement. “It looks like you two have to compromise.”

     “What’s compromise?” asked Ezekiel, for which Cassie was grateful because she didn’t know what it meant either.

     The mother sat her papers beside her on the couch and leaned forward. “It’s when two people agree to do some things they don’t want to do so everyone can be happy. For example,” Eve carefully took both movies from the children’s hands. “Since we can only watch one, you two should _compromise_ so one person can watch their choice now, and the other can watch their choice _next_ time.”

     “Can I watch mine first?” asked Ezekiel.

     Eve looked to Cassie, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Cassie if she’s willing to _compromise_.”

     Ezekiel beamed. “Cassie, can we _pleeease_ watch mine first?”

     Cassie stared at her toes for a moment, in her red ladybug socks. She really didn’t want to. But then she let her eyes drift up to see Eve’s face looking at her with a look that Cassie knew meant. “Do the right thing, Cassie, I know you know what it is.”

     She sighed. “Okay. But next time we get to watch Toy Story, right?”

     Eve smiled at her. “Of course, Red. And who knows, you might end up liking the Iron Giant even more.”

\- - -

     Flynn was home around one o’clock, and Ezekiel and Cassie had just finished their movie and were ready to start making sandwiches for their lunch. 

     “Daddy!” cried Cassandra, running to him as he walked through the door. “Guess what!”

     “Oh, guessing game,” he said excitedly. Flynn leaned down to scoop the little girl up in his arms. “Let’s see…did you cut your hair?”

     Cassie giggled. “Nope.”

     “Hmm…” Flynn thought, “Did yoouuu…play a new game with Ezekiel?”

     “Closer!” she said. “Me and ‘Zekiel watched the Iron Giant with Mommy and it was neat! I didn’t wanna watch it at first, but then we made a con-pre-mize.”

     “A compromise, huh?” he repeated, smiling at her. “A very grown-up word for a very grown-up young lady. There’s gonna be lots of compromises now that you’ve got a little brother here to think about. But I’m sure you can handle it, right?”

     Cassandra nodded without hesitation. “Yes I can!”

     Flynn pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and placed her gently back on the ground. “That’s my girl.”

     “Those compromises are sure going to come in handy,” said Eve, striding over toward her husband and placing a kiss on his cheek just like the one he’d given Cassie. “Biography crisis averted?” she asked him.

     “For now,” he said, hyper-actively scurrying past her and into the kitchen. “Do we have any mac and cheese?”

     “What’s a biography?” came a young voice. Eve and Flynn both looked around to see Ezekiel standing with a GI Joe in one hand.

     “A biography, my boy,” said Flynn over his shoulder, tearing open cupboards in a desperate search for Kraft Mac and Cheese. “Is a book about the life of a real person.”

     “That sounds boring,” Ezekiel commented, “why would you wanna hear about a real person when you can write a story about a secret agent penguin?”

     “Point taken,” said Flynn over his shoulder, “a penguin as an undercover operative for the American government would be more interesting than at least thirty-eight percent of biographies. Ah-ha!” He exclaimed suddenly, pulling out a blue and yellow box from the cupboard. “Who wants to help me make lunch?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad. It's been almost a full year. Why am I just now posting the second chapter? It's not like I had already written the entire outline and most of this chapter already when I posted the first part... But alas, I've failed. This chapter is also about half as long as it was supposed to be, because I was desperate to post something. Because of that, I'm adding an extra little short chapter which I _hope_ will be up next week. But holy cow, thanks y'all. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. And after almost a year (and a dramatic house moving, a major hand injury, medical complications, my full time grown-up job, and a bunch of other lame excuses), thanks for sticking around to read the second chapter.


End file.
